When she was only 15-years-old, starlet Charlize Theron saw her mother shoot dead her abusive alcoholic father.

And now, at age 39, she’s playing a role that is hitting shockingly close to home.

The Oscar-winning actress has taken on the role of Libby Day for the upcoming film ‘Dark Places’, about a woman who witnessed her mother and sisters being murdered by Satanists when she was only eight.

charlize theron and mother

Charlize on her mother, “She’s saved my life many times.”

In a new interview with French TV station ‘TF1,’ Charlize admitted the part dredged up a lot of old memories and experiences which she was able to draw from.

In the interview, conducted entirely in French, the South African stunner said: “There’s definitely an acknowledgement on my part that I had an experience of, a very traumatic experience, an event, in my life and somehow it’s formed me.”

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Charlize was just a teenager home from boarding school when she and her mother, Gerda, were physically attacked by her father, Charles Theron. Allegedly intoxicated, he brandished a gun and threatened the two women, forcing Gerda to shoot him dead in self-defense. Her actions were judged to be fair and she was never charged with any wrongdoing.

charlize theron dark places

Charlize at the premiere for ‘Dark Places’

Speaking about the similarities between her experience and that of Libby in the film, Charlize added, “It really is examining what a trauma like that would do to a child, especially when she’s expected to speak about it. And that’s definitely something that I can relate to, that’s definitely something that I’ve experienced in my life.”

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